


Thankful

by flaming_muse



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-25
Updated: 2011-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-26 12:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaming_muse/pseuds/flaming_muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanksgiving Day, Lima, Ohio, 2011</p><p>spoilers through 3x06 (“Mash-Off”)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thankful

**Author's Note:**

> A little holiday dribble of fic.

**Puck**

Puck isn’t the kind of guy who goes around counting his blessings, but if he were he’d have some new ones this year:

Soft blonde curls and even softer cheeks. A cry that stops when he lifts her from the floor. A chubby fist that clings to his shirt as he spins her around. A giggle of pure joy that comes with it. A smile that makes him feel like he is doing everything right and makes him want to give her more than he’s ever had.

A chance to prove he’s better than everyone thinks, because Beth looks at him like she thinks he’s everything.

 

 **Rory**

The turkey is moist, the lumps in the mashed potatoes don’t matter once they’re covered in gravy, and Grandma Pierce has stopped glaring at him over her glasses, so Rory feels like he's getting the hang of Thanksgiving. It's a bit like his Gran's Sunday roasts at home, where the family who's free all comes 'round and shares good times at the table. There’s a warm feeling of belonging he recognizes, even if it’s not quite for him. It still makes him smile as he helps Mrs. Pierce wash up after the meal.

They've never had cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie at his Gran's, though, and he's glad of it. If Thanksgiving with the Pierces leaves him feeling very far away from his family back in Ireland, at least he’s not sad from missing having _this_ holiday and all of their own Flanagan traditions with them.

 

 **Rachel**

Rachel has a list she keeps on her phone of people to whom she’s grateful. She keeps it updated as often as is necessary; she never knows when she might be called upon to make some sort of speech, and she doesn’t want to forget anyone.

Certain people have never moved from their spots on the list (her dads, Barbra), while others come and go as her life changes around her (Jesse, her mother).

As she sits down with her dads at their dining room table and celebrates the holiday with tofurkey and mushroom gravy, it feels good this year to know that both Finn and Kurt are on her list again. She loves them both in different ways, and it had hurt to remove their names. She’s glad that they’re where they belong, in her heart and on her list.

The best part, though, is that her mother is back on her list, too. She’s there to stay this time; she said Rachel’s going to be a star.

 

 **Tina**

Tina knows she has a lot to be thankful for, but this year she’s glad that she and Mike are still in high school instead of married or something so she gets to enjoy her mom’s chestnut stuffing and green bean casserole instead of having to eat the pig’s knuckles and spicy squid Mike keeps texting her pictures of from his own Thanksgiving meal.

She’s sure they’re delicious, but she still gives her mom an extra hug as they put the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes.

 

 **Mike**

As much as he wishes he could spend the day with Tina instead of avoiding eye contact with his father, Mike is very happy to be eating his mother’s amazing spicy squid. It tastes like family, like home. Today that means even more than usual.

 

 **Brittany**

“This year I am thankful for Lord Tubbington,” Brittany says, holding up her cat to the webcam, “cream-filled doughnuts (but not the jelly-filled ones), unicorns, my friends, and Doctors Without Borders.”

She frowns at Lord Tubbington. “How can you not support the difficult humanitarian mission of Doctors Without Borders? It isn’t racist because they only help people. That would be speciesist.

“I don’t know why cats don’t just start their own charities, anyway.”

 

 **Finn**

Finn is really grateful for food. Other things, too, obviously, but right now mostly just food.

What? He’s hungry.

 

 **Kurt**

Thanksgiving dinner is just the four of them: Kurt, his dad, Carole, and Finn. It’s an amalgam of traditional foods from both sides of the family plus some new additions. Kurt’s sage cornbread pudding is a big hit, if he does say so himself, but the best part is sitting together as a family, a real family.

After the meal is through, though, the Hummel-Hudson doors are open if not to all quite yet then at least to a few more. The doorbell rings as Kurt is carrying the apple tart to the sideboard, and he rushes to the door to find Blaine on the other side. Blaine’s smile spreads wide at the sight of him; Kurt can’t keep himself from answering in kind.

They don’t really touch as Blaine comes inside, not with Kurt’s family right there and Rachel’s car pulling into the driveway, but Blaine sneaks a quick kiss behind the flimsy shelter of the closet door while they hang up his coat, and Kurt clutches at Blaine’s scarf to draw it out just a second or two longer.

Some minutes later when they’ve all settled onto couches and chairs with heaping plates of desserts, Rachel chattering away at Finn and Kurt’s dad turning on the TV to find the football game, Kurt takes a bite of Carole’s syrupy pecan pie and thinks being in this room with these people he loves is the sweetest thing of all.

 

 **Blaine**

Kurt’s head is heavy on Blaine’s shoulder, and his breathing is slow and steady. If Kurt weren’t still making the occasional snarky comment about the game they’re watching, Blaine wouldn’t even be sure he was awake.

“Okay?” Blaine whispers when Kurt shifts a bit and presses his forehead against Blaine’s neck; he doesn’t talk any louder because he really isn’t in the mood to be hushed again by Finn for chatting during the game. The irony that Finn’s girlfriend is _Rachel_ , who has barely paused for breath for the past hour with her running commentary about everything _but_ the game, is not lost on him.

“Mmm. Tired,” is Kurt’s muzzy reply. “Thanksgiving is a lot of work.”

Blaine rubs his hand over Kurt’s knee. “The desserts were really good.”

Kurt laughs a little, probably to some internal comment about Blaine’s sweet tooth that he doesn’t voice. “The whole day was good.”

“This part is,” Blaine says, ignoring the glare Finn shoots his way. Even with the tension between them, the Hummel-Hudson house gives him a warmer sense of family than his own home does. He nuzzles into Kurt’s hair and breathes in the comforting scent of him, overlayed with a hint of cinnamon and poultry seasoning.

“This part is the best,” Kurt murmurs back and curls his hand over Blaine’s on his leg.

“Yeah,” Blaine agrees, and he shuts his eyes for a moment - not too long, he doesn’t want to miss any of the game - just to take it all in.


End file.
